Always, there are signs that the Lord is coming, but we see the signs so often and interpret them so differently that we miss them. God is always making moves to bring us closer to him. He does not just sit and wait for us to make a move. He is always making moves, hoping that we will grab on to one and come back to him. He offers us his gift of grace which enables us to respond to his offers and be overshadowed by his grace.

In the story of the centurion, we see an example of faith working in cooperation with God. God, through his son Jesus, offered the centurion the gift of faith and the centurion responded by getting himself out of the way so that God and his healing and miracles could move, direct and heal. If a pagan Roman centurion could do it, why not us?

God is the one who shows us compassion when we get hurt. He is the one who loves us when we think that we are unlovable. Throughout the gospel we see and read Jesus doing the unthinkable and reprehensible by touching lepers and healing the ill. We can imitate Jesus by finding and assisting an organization that shelters the homeless and finds work for the jobless, educates the uneducated, and counsels the depressed. By doing this we are demonstrating the gift of compassion. The solidity of love enables us to reach outward to the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. Let us then ask Jesus to enable us to hear his word of love and act on it throughout our lives.

We are compelled to tell of the healing, prodding, tugging that God works within us. Once we become aware of God’s work in us, the desire to share our good news overwhelms us, and we tell all. God continues to speak in our history our time, today. The word of God is heard through the voice of a person who calls us to compassion. When we show care and concern for relatives when someone has died, we have heard the word of God. A fresh idea that seems to come from nowhere can be the voice of God that has been heard. Reading the Bible and listening for a message of application to our lives is another way that God speaks today. Those who have taken care of the needy-the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned-have, without even realizing it, cared for Jesus.

When we practice Jesus’ humility, we know that we are last, like a child, refraining from thinking that something is owed us. Jesus in the Hebrew scriptures, came to help and saves us. We follow in Jesus’ footsteps when we offer a helping hand to an elderly neighbor, saving a child from hunger, or tutoring the illiterate. Doing these things and more, bestow upon us the name Jesus and represent God’s ongoing activity in time.

Some of Jesus’ stories are like windows that allow us to see God. Let yourself be surprised by God’s word.

Everywhere he went, Jesus invited people to enter the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not an earthly place or government. It is God’s reign of peace and justice. Jesus used signs-actions and examples-and stories to teach about God’s reign. Jesus showed people that there are reminders of God’s kingdom in creation. The signs in creation say that God is near and God is great. Jesus worked mighty deeds called miracles as physical signs of God’s power. When we believe and trust in God, we recognize that anything is possible.

To teach people about the kingdom of God, Jesus used simple but memorable stories that had special meaning for his listeners. With each parable he told, Jesus invited his listeners to use their own experiences to imagine what the kingdom of God was like. To a poor woman down to her last small coin, Jesus said the kingdom of God was like a lost coin found again. Jesus insisted that people listen with their hearts as well as their ears to what God was asking of them in the stories he told. The parables show that to enter the kingdom of God, a person might have to give up many things the world considers important. Wealth, power, and fashion don’t count in God’s kingdom. The treasures of God’s kingdom are love, justice, and peace. Through his stories and signs, Jesus showed us that God’s kingdom is not a faraway fairy-tale. When we love, when we act justly, when we make peace, we are living in the reign of God.

We are invited to keep turning to God with heart, mind, and soul. Even more importantly, God gives us the great gift of eternal life. We become citizens of God’s kingdom. Repentance means turning away from sin and turning toward God. Repentance helps us see the kingdom of God more clearly. When we take care to choose the just and loving way, we are living in the kingdom of God.

Day and night, sun and moon are all God’s creation.

The prophets reminded God’s people to prepare for the coming of the Messiah, God’s chosen one, by living as people of light.

It’s not easy to imagine God. We see traces of God everywhere in the universe. God does love and care for us. But God’s parental love is much greater than that of the best parent we can imagine. God is far beyond the limits of our language and vision. No image or word we choose can capture who God is.

We do not know what God looks like, but in Jesus we can see and hear God’s love. To call Jesus God’s word is to say that all the power and greatness of God has come to life in our midst. In the mystery of the incarnation, the Son of God became human. In Jesus, God became human to save us from sin. The Son of God came to show us the way to know, love, and serve God. Through faith we can say that Jesus is both God and human. Jesus is the perfect image and sacrament of God. When we meet Jesus, we meet God.

Gradually, in what he said and did, Jesus let people come to know God through him. Many people saw and heard, and felt God’s love in Jesus. Many others had difficulty accepting Jesus as the image of God. Some could accept Jesus as human but not as divine, that is, God. Jesus would never be limited to easy categories because God’s love is unlimited. But the people Jesus touched and healed had no problem believing that he was both human and the Son of God. We look at Jesus and we see God.

We are created in God’s image. In Baptism we are given the grace to be living images of God every day. Of course we are not perfect images of God’s love as Jesus is. But the image of God’s love in us becomes clearer the more we try to live as Jesus did. The more we cooperate with God’s grace, and the more we care for others, the more we reflect God’s image. People can see God at work even in our limited human selves. What we do and say reflects God’s presence in the world around us. In Christ we are adopted Sons and Daughters of God.

The Son of God accepted his suffering as God’s will, and so he is our redeemer.

When Jesus walked the path of suffering and death to the new life of God’s kingdom, he did so as the first of many. God’s power and love break through into our lives.

Throughout our faith journey there are signs that point to God’s presence in our lives. These signs are everywhere so that we do not miss coming to know, love, and serve God. Each sign is a revelation-that is, each is a part of the gradual process through which we come to know God. God shows us the way because he loves us.

Stop being blind to the signs of God’s love. Look at nature and how God takes care of it. Open yourself to God’s love. Trust in God. If you depend on God instead of trying to do everything by yourself, you will have what you really need.

God has given us many other gifts. God’s love and goodness also shine through in nature, for instance. Our family and friends are the closest living signs pointing to God. They show us every day that God is the source of everything that is good in life.

Catholics firmly believe that God, who is the source of all that is good in the world, does not cause evil. Evil, the opposite of God’s good plan for creation, comes about as a result of sin. We were created to share in God’s goodness and love. Our choice to turn away from God’s invitation is called sin. Sin does not come from God. The first humans chose to disobey, to turn away from God. Because of sin, our relationships with God, with ourselves, and with others suffer. Sin and the suffering that goes with it can blind our hearts, minds, and senses, so that we cannot see the signs of God’s goodness and beauty.

Even though sin and evil exist, there are many signs of God’s love in creation. All encourage us to reflect on what is good and beautiful in the world and to seek happiness in God, the giver of all god gifts.

Whenever we gather together to pray and to work, we believe that God is with us.

As believers, we want to be in touch with God and to be touched by God.

Some people did not see God in Jesus. They doubted that Jesus came from God.

By sending Jesus to heal and save us, God answered the question “Where are you, God?” Jesus is the perfect image of God. He shows God’s love for us fully and completely. In fact, the name Emmanuel, which is used to describe Jesus, means “God is with us.” Jesus made God present and alive among the people of our world. In his life of ministry, Jesus set out to love, create, and forgive-to show that God is with us. Faith is the power that enables us to believe that God is with us. Faith also helps us respond to God’s presence in our lives. Washed and reborn in the waters of Baptism, we become children of God and members of the Body of Christ. We come to know God through creation and through the Bible. We see God in Jesus.

Catholics believe that creation, all things seen and unseen, came to be through God. All creatures are traces or reminders of God’s presence and God’s gift of life. God alone created the great wonders that are part of our world.

God did not need help of any kind to create the world and everything in it. All God had to do was command, “Let there be something,” and it happened. God’s word by itself is creative. God alone deserves thanks and praise for everything in the heavens and on the earth.

God formed and organized everything. Where there was nothing, God put something. Where there was confusion, God put order. As God made each thing in creation, he saw how good it was. Only God was and always is perfect.

After God had created light, day and night, the sky, water, land, vegetables and fruit, the sun, moon, and stars, and all kinds of living creatures, God chose the perfect moment to make a special creature. God created humans, both men and women, in his own image and likeness.

God blessed humans and gave everything to them.

God is imagined as acting in human ways, like a potter, a gardener, and a matchmaker.

God formed a man out of clay and blew the breath of life into his nostrils, making him a living being. Then God planted a garden and placed the man there. To keep the man company, God made all kinds of living creatures. But when God saw that none of these creatures was just right for the man, God made him a special partner. God created a woman from one of the man’s ribs. God brought the first man and the first woman together in a beautiful union of love. In God’s eyes they were made for each other.

We need to remind ourselves that God, and only God, is our creator. We were created in God’s image and likeness. We exist through the loving power of God.

Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, is an example to us of the loving power of God. God favoured Mary with special gifts. Through God’s power Mary was full of grace. Mary’s whole life was centred on her Son, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Our sins will always be forgiven if we ask for them to be. We do not need to be weighed down by our wrong doings because God is always ready to cleanse our hearts. His Spirit overshadows us, seeps into our beings, and lift us from our heavy burdens. Yes, we will fail every now and then, but God will continue to hold on to us. Forgiveness is available all the time, 24 hours; every day and so too is the Spirit of God.

The love God has for us is so immense that he even gave us his beloved Son to pay the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. With the crucifixion of Christ the barrier of sin that separated God from humanity was broken. Since then those who repent are received into the holy arms of God. Also we are sent out as messengers of God to testify that God’s love is true and everlasting and that he is waiting for us to reconcile with him.

When we repent of our sins we allow Jesus to take control of our lives. We are saved by God not once but constantly and every day. He redirects our lives on the path of goodness, protects us and provides for our every need. We are to lay our burdens on him, rest in him for he is the one who will never fails.

There is no sin that cannot be forgiven but what is essential that we ask for forgiveness. When we do that we begin to journey with him in joyous holiness. God changes our lives and makes us his messengers in an evil world. When we draw closer to God by putting off sin, we shine brightly with our good woks imitating our Saviour.

Salvation is hard work. It was hard work for Jesus and so it will be hard work for us too. We have to live out the commands of God for this is how our faith will have an impact on the world. We must not be discouraged for we will not be alone in this task. God is there with us acting through his Spirit.

We share in the glory of Jesus when we answer his call to be his disciples. Through this union we enter into the family of God. He implores us to learn more of his magnificence and faithfully follow him.

I am the light of the world; the one who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have light and life.-Jesus (John 8:12)

There is a big difference between telling a person his ideas or deeds are wrong or sinful, and condemning him. We usually condemn the person; we do not make room for change and mercy.

Jesus is the light for all people of all times. By the light of Christ a person triumphs over all inner darkness. If we live in the light, the light will gradually illumine our innermost being.

Part of the human condition aggravated by sin is the absence of light for seeking and discerning what is good.
We need to be continuously enlightened through prayer, listening to the word of God, studying the teaching of the Church, and accepting the good advice of our brothers and sisters.

Sin is not just doing something bad. Sin is, also, to enclose ourselves in our own petty problems and rely only on human wisdom, without opening ourselves to the horizons of God.

To be in sin, on the other hand, is to live in falsehood; it is to persist stubbornly in a certain pride, an attachment to our judgments.

Our truth consists in living in accordance with our vocation as children of God. Truth and freedom always go together.

By doing evil one becomes an accomplice of the Devil and, even without wanting to do so, falls into a trap.
As long as we continue to be unconcerned about our time condition and are either agitated or idle, we are no more than slaves, even though we may excel in wealth, knowledge or status.

From the time we become children of God, everything we do bears fruit for eternity.

Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believers in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Nobody gives birth to himself, and just as we received our life in the flesh from others so, too, we receive the life of the Son of God from the Spirit.

Jesus reveals to us that which, by ourselves, we are unable to know. Only Jesus comes from On High, and can fully satisfy the human heart. Those who do not recognize the Son of God remain in the situation humanity was in when expelled from Paradise.

May God, the source of hope; fill you with joy and peace in the faith, so that your hope may increase by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

No one can serve two masters; for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the first and look and down on the second. You cannot at the same time serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)
The value of prayer does not lie in the quantity of words and the mere repetition of formulas, as if accomplishing a task. The value of prayer lies chiefly in our inner attitude of faith and love of God. To pray is not to talk much, but to surrender our lives into God’s loving hands.
When we forgive someone who asks for forgiveness, we are not doing that person a favour, nor do we deserve any credit for doing it; we actually free ourselves from some rancor or hatred that is poisoning us.
Fasting is unworthy when done to obtain human approval rather than God’s. When we are bright-eyed this signifies generosity, while to be dark-eyed signifies meanness.
Jesus affirms that money is a false god, because it offers happiness and security for the future, but robs us of our only riches, that is, the present time. Caught up in making money, we are unable to live truly and freely; we neglect our personal growth and family life, keep silent before evil and lie.
We must choose between serving and being served, sacrificing ourselves for others or taking advantage of them. At this time we need to be reconciled with family members and neighbours and to let go of resentments. Since we are sinners, our salvation is worked out through suffering and through the cross.
Our desires and our prayers are powerful because we have come to the center from which God directs the forces saving humankind: because we work for eternity; our names are already written in heaven.
To evangelize does not mean to try to sell the Gospel but rather to prove its power to heal people from their demons. We must stop being envious of famous people, kings and prophets of the past.
To pray is to take the time to listen, to meditate in silence on the work of God, it is to slow our desires, so as to pay attention only to God, secretly present, and slip into his well.
Let us ask Jesus to help us to live a life for others out of the love we have for him.

Jesus brings the living water, which is God’s gift to us, his children, the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit whom we receive, helps us worship God according to the truth.

God does not need the words of our prayer, but looks for simplicity, beauty and nobility in our spirit. The Spirit of God cannot be communicated except to those who seek the truth and live according to truth in a world of deception.

Each one of us in some way is the Samaritan woman. Those who really seek the truth recognize it when it is presented to them. We must first believe in the messenger of God. Jesus is in our midst, but to be aware of his presence requires faith. He comes to reveal the mystery of God, the mystery of the love of God-Father, Son and Spirit.

God does not expect works on the part of human beings but calls them to faith. Be rid of all that hampers you, of all that prevents you from seeing and believe. Believe that it is he, and he alone who is able to save you.

Physical possession is not the usual way of the devil’s activity in humans. The Devil operates in the moral life of people. Not that the Devil is the cause of every sin and evil that people do. There is also the selfishness of our flesh and the lure of the false promise of the world but the Devil, as enemy of God’s kingdom, is never at rest. The Devil notices at once those who are capable of weakening or destroying his empire.

Jesus shows us how to visit the sick. The care and love of our Christian sisters and brothers attracts God’s favours upon them.

The Good News does not remain mere words but it effects a change. If God puts us on a road in life, this road will lead somehow. Hope is courage and endurance. Good and bad will be mixed till the end of the world. Good and evil will always be found together in persons and institutions. God respects people and He is patient.

Believers are not to separate themselves from those who do not believe, for they are the yeast of the world. We must choose between sewing and being served, sacrificing ourselves for others or taking advantage of them.

This is the time to be reconciled with family members and neighbours, to let go of resentments. Since we are sinners, our salvation is worked out through suffering and through the cross.

Our desires and our prayers are powerful because we have come to the center from which God directs the forces saving humankind, because we work for the eternity, our names are already written in heaven.

To evangelize does not mean to try to sell the Gospel but rather to prove its power to heal people from their demons. We must stop being envious of famous people, kings and prophets of the past.

To pray is to take the time to listen, to meditate in silence on the work of God, it is to slow our desires, so as to pay attention only to God, secretly present, and slip into his will.

God relies on the poor and the marginalized to maintain the aspiration toward peace and justice in the world, to awaken the conscience of those good people who are too comfortable.

Be alert and watch; for you don’t know when the time will come. (Mark 13:33, CCB)

The faithful God will not fail you after calling you to his fellowship with his Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:9, CCB)

As sons and daughters of God we are made in his image and likeness. God loves so much so that he gave us his Son As a sacrifice in order to bring us glory. Through Christ, God saves us and Through this salvation we share in the inheritance of the kingdom of God.

Don’t let yourselves be shaped by the world where you live, but rather be transformed Through the renewal of your mind. You must discern the will of God: what is good, what pleases, what is perfect. (Romans 12:2, CCB)

God does not want us to just live our lives by following rules. He want us to live a life that is meditative, understanding and filled with discovery of the will of God in all areas and situations in our lives. Jesus Christ gave his life, his body to us and for us. He suffered pain for us so that we may not be burdened by suffering. He gives us his body so that we may put all our woes on him.

He consecrated his body for us so that when we allow him into our lives we too become consecrated vessels. We are descendants of the twelve tribe of Israel, the people of God, chosen to be holy. Jesus felt the pain of death and bore it humbly, a sign and example, that we too should do the same.

Being humble is challenging As many times we feel the need to respond and act on everything that comes our way. But the Bible proves to us that God acts mysteriously in our lives, encouraging and teaching us on the way to act, and also punishing us when it is needed. There are many times when all hope and justice seems to have disappeared from the earth. However, looking at Jesus’ trial and condemnation to death we realize that There is not much difference to what is happening to many Christian militants and martyrs now. Jesus, through he is the Son of God, was and is hated by many people, and so are we who are children of God and live a Christ like life.

We are to call upon God for the grace to live in his Spirit, to believe in his way and to walk in his truth. We are to express love and make our faith blossom on earth.

Store up treasure for yourself with God, where no moth or rust can destroy nor thief come and steal it. (Matthew 6:20, CCB)

Prayer is not about how many words we say or how well we repeat a Prayer. It should not be a to do list. Prayer is about our inner disposition, our attitude, faith and love of God. We don’t need to talk much when we pray instead we are to surrender our lives in God’s loving hands.

Jesus taught us about forgiveness. He says we are to forgive those who asks for forgiveness. Forgiveness is not about doing a person a favour and it is not about receiving or giving credit. Instead it is about freeing ourselves from the hatred that has been poisoning us. We must embody generosity instead of meanness.

Jesus also teaches us about money emphazing that it is a false God. It offers happiness and security but robs us of our presence. When we are caught up in making money, we are unable to truly live and to be truly free. Our personal growth is neglected, our family life is neglected, and we participate in evil doing.

To do your will is my delight, O God, for your law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:9, CCB)

God is all about love and truth. There are his two main qualities. To know him means knowing Jesus and submitting ourselves to him.